The Great, The Valiant
by RadaVonVon
Summary: -A Rikki Tikki Tavi sequel, written for school- “Oh, what to do…” Rikki seemed to ponder something for a moment. “What to do? I can’t kill you here on the spot…” I blinked. “K… Kill?” “Yes, you foolish cobra, kill!” Rikki hissed, taking a step forward.


**The Great, the Valiant**

**A Rikki Tikki Tavi Sequel**

**By Chavonne Vuagniaux**

Eye to eye and head to head,_(Keep the measure, Nag.)_This shall end when one is dead;_(At thy pleasure, Nag.)_Turn for turn and twist for twist-_(Run and hide thee, Nag.)_Hah! The hooded Death has missed!_(Woe betide thee, Nag!)_

Reader, I am afraid you have been terribly mislead.

Oh, such a tragedy.

You see, the author of Rikki Tikki Tavi, Rudyard Kipling, had quite a love of mongooses.*

Oh dear. And you see, it was not Rikki Tikki that was the hero.

Oh dear reader, I'm so terribly sorry to put you through the pain of correcting you. Oh, you poor, poor reader.

You see, reader, it was not Rikki Tikki that was the hero of our story, oh, no.

It was the final egg.

You see, Rudyard Kipling was a wonderful writer, fooling people into believing that the cobras were terrible, terrible creatures.

As a matter of fact, it is quite the opposite, dear reader.

Oh, reader. If only I could share the woe you feel.

It was, as a matter of fact, Rikki Tikki Tavi who was the evil one. The cobras, Nag and Nagaina were just poor creatures trying to make their way in the garden.

Please do not stop reading, listening, or whatever is calling your attention to this story.

Because I am going to tell the story of the not-so-great, not-so-valiant Rikki Tikki Tavi, and the third cobra.

Nagi.**

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

I was never sure what was going on. Confined in the silence of the deepest area, farthest away from the entrance, of the burrow.

I never did understand.

When an ant made an attempt to bite my tail, I hissed, lashing out, almost as a warning.

I had always been alone.

After a very, very long time, buried in this hole.

I began to call myself Nagi. I didn't know why. It had just been burned into my mind since the time I had hatched.

And then came the one fateful day I slithered out of my hole.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rikki Tikki Tavi was having another wonderful day.

A wonderful family, a safe garden, just… simply wonderful.

Nag and Nagaina had both been dead for three months now. The garden was simply beautiful, the flowers and the animals flourished.

Teddy had had a birthday party, and a few other Indian children had come over, celebrated, and

*No offense to Rudyard Kipling, it was simply a way of forming my story.**Nagi is a spelling variant of the Arabic Naji, meaning "safe". A very fitting name. For a while, at least.

left. The entire time, Rikki Tikki had been sucking up to them, ticking under their chin, making his trademark _"Rikk-tik-tik-thck!"_

They had adored him, as any child should.

Every day Darzee would sing, fluttering around the garden.

Darzee was most definitely not a wallflower.

Oh, every day Rikki-Tikki would act most annoyed with Darzee's antics, though in truth, he was sucking it all in.

The best part of it all was how he could tell Darzee to go fetch something for him, and Darzee would shoot off like a rocket, to get whatever the 'oh-so-valiant' Rikki Tikki had desired.

Rikki Tikki was content with this lifestyle, Nag was dead. Oh, the animals in the garden hadn't understood that Nag had actually never done anything to wrong anyone, aside from simply be his chick-eating self.

Oh, what glory had this created for Rikki-Tikki! It had made such a nice little crevice for him to crawl into.

Simply kill the snake and become famous. Oh, how glorious his life was! How marvelous!

Rikki Tikki trotted about in the garden, pretending to be looking for snakes.

Though, if anyone, perhaps a close friend, were to ask him what he was really doing, he'd explain to them that he was really just admiring the flowers.

Look in some random direction and those fools in the garden thought you were some sort of sentinel.

Oh, the fools.

But that, of course, was all before Nagi came out of the snake hole.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What I had been doing, I couldn't be sure of.

I had simply slithered out of my hole one day, sure that something was out there. Sure that there was something else.I was both petrified and amazed. Frightened by the noises, the colors, the plants, I nearly darted back into my hole, but I held steadfast.

The sound of my scales made a loud scratching sound. I wasn't sure if anyone else was out here or not, so I continued to explore, until I heard the sound of skittering feet.

Someone else was there, but I didn't know who.

Some several hours later, I was desperately trying to find a way back into my hole. Oh dear, oh dear. I was feeling exposed and trapped. (This being. at the point where I had no idea how deadly I was, or how afraid of me the other animals were.)

When I exploded into a pathway with a tree off to the side, one of the tree branches cradling a bird's nest, I heard frantic talk.

"Darzee, listen to me, you idiotic rat with wings!""Oh, the Valiant Rikki Tikki has failed! Failed, failed, failed!"

"Darzee! Where did the frog say he saw the cobra?"

"Oh, over by the pond, oh valiant one!""Thank you, Darzee. I'll go look."

At the sound of footsteps, I backed up.

There was a pause, as if whatever the creature that was walking toward him had stopped.

I let myself relax, in the midst of the tall grass.

Then there was the sound of _"Rik-tik-tik-thck!"_

Puzzled, I began to look around, before I half-screeched, half-hissed as sharp teeth met by back. I writhed and hissed and squirmed, and after a moment, the pain stopped, accompanied by a _thump_.

I collapsed on the ground, hurt.

"Who are you?" I groaned at my assailant.

The attacker, a feline-like creature, stared at me.?"

"I'm Rikki Tikki Tavi, the mongoose. Who are _you, _Cobra?"

I paused, then remembered what I called myself.

"N… Nagi…"

Rikki Tikki gasped. "Nagi…? Cobra…?"

"Yes…"

The mongoose stared at me in fury. "The son of Nag?"

"I… I don't know…" I murmured, groaning and slowly bringing myself up.

Rikki blinked. "You don't know? What do you mean?"

I stared at him and slowly brought myself up, happy that I wasn't dead. "I don't know who I am."

I repeated, turning my head in confusion.

"You're a deadly cobra that could kill me with one bite!" Rikki almost half-shouted in surprise. "You should know who you are! I know who you are! You're the son of Nag and Nagaina, and you're just as deadly as they are!"

"I don't understand. Who are these other cobras you speak of?"

Rikki stared at him in shock, beginning to pace.

"Nag and Nagaina were two deadly cobras that attempted to kill the family that lives in this bungalow! You haven't heard of them?"

I shook my head. "No, I've not…"

Rikki looked troubled. "We must talk. Quick, I must tell Darzee of your presence, and he will tell the Coppersmith, so no one will be alarmed."

Rikki skittered off, and I quickly slithered behind him.

"Darzee, quick, tell the Coppersmith! I have found the son of Nag and Nagaina!"

An almost howl of surprise sounded, "Whaaaat? The Valiant Rikki Tikki has succeeded once again?!"

The bird began to sing some sort of annoying song, just as I emerged.

The tailorbird cut of with a choking noise.

"N-Nag! But… smaller."

I blinked. I wasn't small! I was much bigger than this bird.

"No…" Rikki gave the bird an annoyed look. "Darzee, be quick to listen. This is… Nagi." Rikki muttered, almost looking disgusted.

"But he's so small… And… Un… threatening…" Darzee began to laugh obnoxiously, chirping filling the air.

At first, Rikki looked annoyed, but he soon began to chuckle, which grew into a heavy, full-out laugh. "Y… You're right! He's not more than two feet long!"

I hissed, raising as much of myself as I could off the ground, and they both stopped abruptly, Darzee looking terrified, and Rikki looking surprised.

"I'm not small!" I cried out, looking frustrated.

"I… I will tell the Coppersmith." Darzee trembled with a nod, immediately fluttering off.

"Oh, what to do…" Rikki seemed to ponder something for a moment. "What to do? I can't kill you here on the spot…"

I blinked. "K… Kill?"

"Yes, you foolish cobra, kill!" Rikki hissed, taking a step forward. "Both of your parents were fools! Making it oh-so-easy to kill them. Oh, Nagi. You shall become my prey, just as your mother and father did."

I found myself terrified by this… this… cat-like… mongoose creature.

"But I need the right timing." Rikki recoiled in disgust. "I need to make this… seem like an accident. Or make it seem like a threat…"

I turned away and began to quickly slither away, not willing myself to strike at him. Oh dear…

"Cobra! Come back and fight!"

Still terrified, I slithered back into my hole and reclined in the space I had been stuck in for three months. Never had it felt so good.

I was scared. Oh, why did this happen to me?

Curled up and exhausted, I shut my eyes to sleep.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just remember fear.

That's all I knew about.

The mongoose had killed my parents.

And I was all alone.

I was scared. What would the mongoose do to me? Would he kill me as he had claimed?

I didn't want to think of it.

I finally slithered out after a while, finally deciding to face my fears.

I moved slowly, lingering on what may be my last moments of life.

Pausing, I stared at a particularly beautiful flower.

It might be the last I would see.

"Rik-tik-tik-tchk! Die!" The cry sounded, then my vision turned red as pain shot through my neck and head.

Just before my vision completely faded, I heard, "Sorry, Nagi. This glory is mine."

Red.

Red.

Black.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am quite sure, if you are not so callous as to not care, that you, the reader, are feeling very sorry for Nagi.

However, this story is not over.

As a matter of fact, Darzee the tailorbird had seen what Rikki Tikki Tavi had done and said.

Darzee fluttered off to the Coppersmith, and told him what he had seen.

The Coppersmith began to announce to the garden.

The garden was shocked for the first few hours, denying and denying it, but when they found Nagi's body, realization spread throughout the garden.

The terrible Rikki Tikki, he began to be known as.

Sure, Rikki Tikki tried to defend himself.

He tried to 'explain' what happened.

Everyone understood what had happened.

And the so-called great, the so-called valiant Rikki Tikki Tavi was driven out of the garden.

This act, this great act, this was the only act of justice done in that garden since Rikki Tikki had entered the garden.

_The quote at the beginning is not of my creation, I am actually not sure of the source. I found it online and simply liked it, so I decided to use it. I will repeat that I'm not sure who it belongs to, but it is not me._


End file.
